Friday was a miserable day weatherwise but we’d planned to get to The Radford Bank Inn so we could meet Sue and Andy from nb Festina Lente for a Friday Night early doors reunion drink. We set off through the rain to get there. The Roundhouse at Gailey is a landmark on the Staffs and Worcs canal but we didn’t stop to admire it – just got our heads down, worked our way through the lock and persevered.

The rain did actually ease a bit so I decided to stretch my legs and walk for a mile or so. It seemed a shame not to be enjoying the scenery on this beautiful canal.

The lull in the weather was not destined to last and, by the time we stopped for the day I looked like a drowned rat.

Still, the fire was lit and the shower water was hot so it didn’t take long to pull myself together for our visit to the pub.

It was really great to see Sue and Andy again. We parted company at the end of August near Coventry. They’ve now finished their season’s cruising and are berthed up back in Aston Marina which is near by. We’d planned a whole weekend together with Friday at the Radford Inn, Saturday in Stafford watching the rugby followed by a trip to the Gatehouse Theatre and Sunday at The Hollybush Inn for lunch.

I feel Andy may have had more success pouring Gordon a glass of wine if he’d taken the top off!

Saturday was a brilliant day out. After watching all of the England New Zealand game and half of the Ireland South Africa one we went out to the Gatehouse Theatre.

Unfortunately it wasn’t the ‘real thing’ – it was a film of a National Theatre play directed by Danny Boyle (of Trainspotting fame) and performed at the Olivier Theatre in London. Highly unlikely that you’d get to see views of Benedict Cumberbatch writhing around on the stage in a loin cloth live for a mere £12.50!

Apparently the two main actors alternated the roles of Victor Frankenstein, the Creator and his Creature. In this version Benedict Cumberbatch played the Creature and Johnny Lee Miller the Creator. The production was impressive and gripped me from start to finish. I would now love to see the version where their roles are reversed. It proved to be an incredible way to end to a great day out.

Today Sue and Andy came and picked us up to bring us over to The Hollybush in Seighford for Sunday Lunch. We’re back in ‘Titanic’ country and The Hollybush is a Titanic Brewery pub which stocks one of my favourite drinks of all time – Plum Porter. It would have been rude not to sample it!